


some legends are told

by wreckingtomlinson



Series: could be immortals [2]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, M/M, Magic Dice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-29 02:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12072483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wreckingtomlinson/pseuds/wreckingtomlinson
Summary: A chance roll of the dice brings Louis back into Harry's life—and with him, even more questions.





	some legends are told

**Author's Note:**

> and here we are, almost a year to the day i first posted this. i've been promising more to this verse and here it finally is! there'll definitely be more, this feels a bit filler to me but i think it's important harry take the time to remember who louis is and try to come to terms with it. anyway, enjoy!
> 
> title is from centuries by fall out boy

It’s the birthday of one of Harry’s friends, and as a result, their apartment is packed with a dozen more people than usual, all with bright red party cups in hand while a playlist containing way too much of The Chainsmokers plays over their shitty speakers. Harry’s had some combination of rum and Coke and blueberry soda that puts a familiar warmth in his core and makes his fingers tingle as he jostles his way through the kitchen to get to the living room.

The birthday boy himself is sitting on the floor, his drink on the coffee table.

“Liam!” Harry yells, plopping down on the floor next to him. “Having fun yet?”

“Yeah! Great party.” Liam nods to a blond kneeling by the bookcase in the corner. “Niall thought we should break out a game?”

“I found Yahtzee!” Niall declares, turning around and holding a box aloft to a room full of cheers. Seven people crowd around the coffee table, plastic cups occupying every edge. Harry tries his best to clear out space in the center of the table.

Niall pulls out the scorecard and the cup. “Where’s the dice?”

“There’s no dice?” Harry asks.

“I lied. There’s three.” Niall shakes the cup till three fall out. “Can we steal some from another game?”

“Hey, just use these?” Harry’s roommate, Zayn, tosses a pair onto the table. They roll till they hit Harry’s cup. Harry’s got to be drunk off his ass because he could swear the pips are gold. “Who’s first then, Liam ‘cause he’s the birthday boy?”

Liam collects the dice into the cup and shakes, causing another cheer as the dice spill across the table.

Harry’s somehow been entrusted with keeping score, even though he’s definitely drunk off his ass, but he thinks he writes neatly and adds correctly. He thinks. They’re probably all too drunk to be checking his math. Then it’s his turn, and he’s handed the cup. He makes a show of shaking the cup before letting the dice roll out onto the table with a clatter.

He’s so caught up in examining his dice and trying to mentally calculate his best possible score when there’s a sudden commotion by the door.

“What’s that?” Zayn asks. Harry ignores it all, choosing to leave the two that look gold and re-roll the rest.

“Harry?”

A voice calls his name, clearer and sharper and brighter than any voice he’s heard tonight. It sounds familiar, but the kind of familiar that Harry can’t get off the back of his tongue.

“Someone’s here to see you?” George, a friend of Niall’s with two-toned hair and glasses, pokes his head into the living room. “Harry?”

Harry huffs, stuffing the dice back into the cup before heading out to the kitchen.

There’s someone new, someone a little shorter than Harry, with feathery brown hair and sharp blue eyes—someone hauling himself up onto the sticky counter. Someone wearing the gray beanie Harry thought had disappeared two months ago.

“Harry!” the man exclaims, beaming, voice cutting through the music pumping through the house. “You called?”

Harry blinks. “I’m sorry? I didn’t call anybody. Wait, are you from Domino’s? They added the garlic bits to the last order, so we got those.”

The man chuckles. “Don’t you remember me?” His eyes are a shiny blue, blue a little bit like the floor tiles with the pretty flecks in the subway station. 

Harry shakes his head. “Did we hook up?” he asks, prompting a few snickers from eavesdroppers. 

A giggle, high and light. “You rolled the dice I gave you.” He sounds a little—well, definitely not American. Mostly British but there’s something else there too. “I’m Louis, remember? You picked me up on your way to Florida and dropped me off at the beach?”

“So you’re Louis!” Zayn, unbeknownst to Harry, has elbowed his way into the kitchen, the game of Yahtzee apparently forgotten. “Harry never shuts up about you!”

“So he does remember me!” Louis smiled and looks pleased. “Come on Harry, you must know who I am.”

“He’s had a bit too much to drink.” Zayn rolls his eyes and carefully pries Harry’s cup from him. “Come on in, Louis, we were playing a game.”

“What game?” Louis trails after Zayn, grabbing Harry’s wrist and pulling him along. Harry stumbles behind them, confused at how come Zayn knows the mysterious guest and Harry doesn’t.

“Harry!” Louis yells at him, picking up the two dice with the gold-looking pips. 

“Hey! I was going to keep that roll!” Harry pouts.

“These are my dice, Harry! The ones I gave you! I told you to—to use them if you had to!”

Harry must take too much time to think of a suitable response, because one of his friends, Nick, snorts. “Come on, Harold, if I bedded someone that hot I’d remember them.”

Louis kneels up and smacks Nick square in the back of the head. “He did not bed me. Don’t be rude.”

Nick looks like Louis has just sprouted wings. “Christ, just a joke.”

“Not funny. I’m more concerned with why Harry doesn’t remember me.” He crawls over to Harry, touching the back of his hand to the younger boy’s forehead.

Harry is very aware of the fact that he’s causing a bit of a scene at Liam’s party, as everyone’s now standing in the living room to watch the drama unfold. “Can we uh, do this later?”

Louis frowns, brow furrowing as he rolls the dice around in his palm. “I’m a busy guy. But I guess I can stay.”

“Oh, I—” That wasn’t what Harry meant, but Zayn’s already patting Louis on the back and pouring him a drink, and okay, there’s one extra person at Liam’s party, that’s all. 

Louis doesn’t press the matter further, but the longer Harry’s around him, the more he starts to remember. The shots don’t help, though, and every time he thinks he recalls where he knows Louis from, Zayn or Liam pours him another drink or Nick makes another comment that ticks Louis off. Louis is a bit adorable when he’s ticked off, Harry thinks, though he’d not like to be on the receiving end of those smacks. Nick doesn’t look like he’s having a fun time.

By the time people start trickling out the door, it’s two-thirty in the morning and the apartment is empty of all their guests, except Louis. He’s curled himself into the corner of the sofa, head resting against the arm and he looks like he’s about to fall asleep.

“Is he staying?” Zayn asks.

“Hm?” Louis picks his head up, the beanie drooping down to cover one eye. “Oh, I can go. No problem.”

“Where’s your place? I can call you an Uber,” Niall offers.

“No, no, I can get home just fine.”

“It’s fine, he can stay, can’t he?” Zayn asks, looking around at the rest of the boys. Liam nods first, then Niall, and then everyone is looking at Harry for the final vote.

“Sure,” he says, and Louis beams at him like he’s been told he’s just won the lottery. Harry helps Zayn gather some blankets and pull the futon out for Louis. He guesses they’ll solve this mystery in the morning.

~

Harry wakes up with a pounding headache and a dry mouth. He really shouldn’t be surprised when he wakes up like this; he’s twenty-three, for fuck’s sake, he should have a better handle on himself. Groaning, he rolls onto his stomach and clutches a pillow. 

A loud, ringing laugh echoes in the kitchen. The moment Harry hears it, the event of the previous night come rushing back like a wave. Louis. Louis is here, in his apartment. The dice. The hell is up with those dice?

He hears his name being said, probably by Niall, which is a sign it’s time to emerge from his bedroom so he can find out why he’s being talked about. 

Huh. Louis isn’t phased by his nakedness? Either Harry’s body isn’t an impressive as he’s been told it is, or Louis is strangely unflappable. Or very straight. How disappointing. Harry trudges back to his room to fetch a pair of boxers anyway, because his housemates have stopped letting him sit on the sofa with a bare ass month ago. 

“It’s about fucking time you woke up,” Niall scolds him. “Help me out here.”

“Coffeeeeee,” Harry groans, dragging himself over to the Keurig.

“Morning, Harry,” Louis tells him, eyes bright and generally looking far too awake for—what fucking time is it?

He doesn’t realize he said it out loud until Niall answers him. “It’s nine-thirty, you dumbass. Now come on, Louis’s really cool.”

“Yeah, yeah, give me a minute.” Harry makes them both wait until he’s finished making his coffee and has sat down. “Where’re the others?” 

“Liam’s at the gym and Zayn’s still sleeping. No surprises there.” Niall leans back in his chair. “So. Any memories come back to you yet?”

Harry blinks a few times, looking at the man sitting across the table from Niall. He’s embarrassed he couldn’t remember Louis last night, but honestly. He’d had a lot to drink, couldn’t he get a pass? What he didn’t know was why Louis had just shown up out of nowhere. 

“So uh. Yeah. I remember you now,” Harry says with a sheepish grin, “but you said something about the dice?”

“I did.” Louis opens his hand, and the dice spill out onto the table. Yeah, the pips are definitely gold. 

“Can I?” Harry asks, reaching out for one of them.

“Of course. They’re yours, after all.”

Harry picks one up to scrutinize, and up close, the pips look more like wings than dots. It’s starting to come back to him, little by little. Maybe it’s something about actually looking at the dice for the first time since he found them lying on his passenger seat. “They’re gold wings.”

“Yes, they are,” Louis says patiently. “And do you remember the note I left with them?”

“He wrote you a note? Where’s that?” Niall squawks.

Harry furrows his brow, tuning out his roommate and trying to think. “Wait. I think I have it in my room. I can go look for it?”

Louis looks surprised. He doesn’t have the beanie on anymore, Harry notices. “You kept it? I was just wondering if you remembered what it said.”

“I might have it somewhere. I hope I do, ‘cause otherwise I have no idea what it said,” Harry admits. “‘Scuse me, I’ll go look now. Niall, be nice.”

“I’m a delight to be around,” Niall sniffs, which has Louis laughing.

Well, at least they’re getting along. Louis looks as serene as ever, letting Niall prattle on about whatever comes to mind, as Harry heads back to his room to try and find the note.

The truth is, he’s kept it in a prominent spot on his desk ever since he returned from Disney World, hoping that one day it might make sense. Maybe today is the day he finds out. He lingers a bit in his room, to make it seem like he’s actively looking, and emerges a respectable five minutes later.

“Found it!” he announces, holding the card aloft.

Louis grins and makes a swipe for it, which surprises Harry so much he lets the man have it.

“Ah, yes,” Louis is muttering. “I suppose I gave quite a bit away on that trip. Do you remember anything...strange about me, from that trip?”

His tone is careful, controlled, and Harry’s brow furrows. He does remember a number of strange things about Louis from that trip, and he definitely had a hypothesis by the end, but to say it out loud would make him sound like an actual loon. There’s no way…

“You didn’t really sleep. You only ate cheese and grapes and wine. You kind of did this weird, like...disappearing thing.”

“Right. Harry, you can say it. I know you knew about me by the time you left me on the beach,” Louis says quietly.

“You left him on a beach? What kind of romantic comedy shit happened on this trip?” Niall demands. They both ignore him.

“Louis, that’s literally impossible.”

Louis leveled him with a stare. “A hundred years ago, humans would have said smartphones were impossible. Gods, a hundred years ago you wouldn’t even have imagined sending a man into space, would you? Very little is actually impossible.”

“Okay, but there’s no way you’re actually, like, a god,” Harry blurts out.

Silence blankets the kitchen. Niall coughs awkwardly and scuttles down the hall into his room, leaving Harry and Louis alone at the kitchen table.

Louis says nothing, which makes Harry feel like he’d been wrong all this time. But how else could literally everything about Louis be explained otherwise? He could be a demigod, maybe, but that’s some Percy Jackson shit right there. Then again...if Louis really is a god, then who knows what else could be true?

“And have you guessed which one?” Louis asks.

Harry pauses. “Hermes? Messenger god, patron of travelers and thieves?”

Louis heaves a sigh; at first Harry takes it to mean he guessed wrong, but then Louis starts talking again. “Always thieves. People always remember thieves. I’m the god of much more than just that, you know. Athletes, businesspeople, gamblers...pretty much everyone who doesn’t have a god.”

“You’re Hermes,” Harry repeats to himself, as though saying it again will somehow make this revelation easier to swallow. ,Oh god, this is too much he thinks, closing his eyes. “You. Louis. Are Hermes. I picked up a god in my car on the way to Disney World.” Should Harry bow? Address him differently? Offer tribute? Throw himself on a pyre?

“At least you remember me.”

Harry looks up to see Louis leaning back in the chair, an unreadable expression on his face. “Most have forgotten about the old gods,” Louis—Hermes—goes on. “And the ones who remember usually only know of others. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena. The world left me behind.”

That sounds...awfully sad. Harry can’t imagine what that must be like. “So...what are you doing now?”

Louis shrugs. “I do what I’ve always done. Just because the world forgets me, I do not forget the world. Some of my family still talks to me. We still move the world forward, sometimes alone, sometimes together. But most of the time...I go where the wind takes me. You can live thousands of years and still not tire of your world, Harry, do you know that?” He leans forward then, blue eyes shining a little brighter and voice starting to sound less melancholy. “Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to see, your kind builds something else. Does something else. Sometimes with immortal help, sometimes not, but your world is always changing. It’s incredible.”

Harry never thought of it that way. He always thought of immortality to be very lonely, watching your friends and family leave you, but the way Louis sees his life is much more optimistic. “You do live forever, then?”

“Forever.”

“That’s a long time.”

“It is. But I enjoy it. It means I could do everything I might ever want to do, and then still have time to spare.”

They sit quietly for a few moments more, before Harry speaks up again. “So...well, I rolled the dice by mistake. You must have all kinds of things you need to be doing right now.”

Louis shakes his head sharply. “You did not roll those dice by mistake. If it were a mistake, I wouldn’t have come. You’ll need me soon, Harry.”

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a comment if you liked it! and visit me on [tumblr](http://maybetheyrefireproof.tumblr.com) if you feel so inclined. i will talk about louis as hermes for literal ages


End file.
